Want to know Steve Jobs's thoughts on the role of the iPad, Flash, porn (yes, that word), and what Bob Dylan would think of Apple, the company, today?

Look no further than Ryan Tate's email back-and-forth with him - which shows that the chief of Apple is, if nothing else, not unwilling to indulge in some email sparring with completely random strangers. Though Ryan Tate of Gawker (for it was he) is more than just random; he's also employed by Gawker Media, which owns Gizmodo, which Apple doesn't like because.. oh, just read about it.

"If [Bob] Dylan was 20 today, how would he feel about your company? Would he think the iPad had the faintest thing to do with 'revolution'? Revolutions are about freedom", Tate wrote after seeing an iPad advert.

Three hours later, Jobs replied: "Yep, freedom from programs that steal your private data. [We think he means viruses and malware.] Freedom from programs that trash your battery. [We think he means Adobe's Fl*sh.] Freedom from porn. [We think he means.. er, porn.] Yep, freedom. The times they are a changin' [for younger readers: this is a Bob Dylan reference; Dylan is one of Jobs's favourite musicians], and some traditional PC folks feel like their world is slipping away. It is."

There follow an argument about Flash, batteries, Objective-C, porn ("you might care more [about not having it] when you have kids", remarks Jobs), whether Apple has a private police force that kicked in a Gawker person's doors ("You are so misinformed," Jobs retorts. "No one kicked in any doors. You're believing a lot of erroneous blogger reports").

Jobs concludes: "Microsoft had (has) every right to enforce whatever rules for their platform that they want. If people don't like it, they can write for another platform, which some did. Or they can buy another platform, which some did.

"As for us, we're just doing what we can to try and make (and preserve) the user experience we envision. You can disagree with us, but our motives are pure."

And then a final, very Jobs-ish little parting shot:

"By the way, what have you done that's so great? Do you create anything, or just criticize others [sic] work and belittle their motivations?"

An interesting question which we'll leave hanging. But truly, the tendency of Jobs to reply to emails from all over the place show that he's taking an intriguing approach to that chief executive/customer interaction stuff. Plus the not-sleeping thing - most of the emails were sent after midnight California time.

Hell, next you know he'll be turning up on Twitter. (Meanwhile there are plenty of blogs devoted to recording his email replies; this Tumblr one seems one of the best.

Meanwhile, if you want to email Jobs, his email is hardly a secret. (Finding it is your initiative test.) If you get an answer, do share. But think of a useful question first..